I just spray them off with a strong stream of water from the hose!

A blast of water from the hose does the trick. They'll die on the ground before they can get back on the rose.

Have you bought ladybugs, green lacewings, praying mantids, etc.?
Of course if you have done poison recently, that option will be off the table for a while.
I bought ladybugs 20 years ago, and their decendants have been on the job ever since. I don't need to spray as I only have aphids for about 2 weeks in the beginning of spring, and then nothing until next year.
Carla in Sac

You are thinking of Marigolds -- though I cannot say how well (or ill) that works. Other than that, I'll second the first two comments: A strong spray of water.

If they are thickly clustered, you might grab the bud with one hand, and brush at the little devils, while directing the stream of water at them.

If you stick to water and fingers, you won't kill or repel the birds and predatory insects that will serve as fierce destroyers of aphids.

I've noticed that when I have a large number of aphids the little birds that eat them are not far behind. Meanwhile I knock them off with a spray of water or squish them between my fingers which is sometimes very satisfying.

I find them annoying and ugly more than harmful to my roses. Every year I release some ladybugs, and that seems to help. I've also noticed a lot of sparrows in my garden, and spiders -- all of these seem to keep the aphid population under control.

Thanks everyone. I’ve been squishing but the next day they are back again. I’ll try ladybugs and water. I’ve always been scared of damaging the bud with water

OH INGRID! DON'T YOU LOVE THOSE TEENY BIRDS??? I think they're Bush Tits. They swoop in, spend a couple of hours vacuuming up aphids, and then they move on. I LOVE that!

Marigolds did not work for aphids here...Water from a hose...

it's hard to tell but google leafhoppers and see if they match
Carla in Sac

Oy, it is, so that’s no good

This year I waited to fertilize until after the spring flush. I had no aphids at all. They bloomed just as well as the years that I have fertilized before the spring flush I just applied fertilizer about a week ago once the flush had ended and so far I am still aphid free.

I had a massive aphid infestation this year. The punk ladybirds I saw in spring weren't doing their job and flew away so I ended up using neem oil when things kept getting worse. It seemed to work really well, all the aphids were dead, you can imagine my relief after fighting them all season. Then I noticed all the young leaves started browning up and crisping, turns out my neem oil solution was WAY too concentrated. I still plan on using it but only at 0.5% concentration and without any detergent to harm the foliage. It works too well and doesn't harm beneficial insects for me to dump. I will still be sad over all those lost leaves though :(

Magnus -- I'm in SoCal, so perhaps the sun is more intense here ... but we found years ago that any mixture of hort oil (or other oils) ended up burning foliage. With that, back to using a garden hose.

Thanks Dianela, great idea!

Interesting observation by girlnamedgalez ^^^^^.

Does anyone know if this has been put to the test in a controlled trial? Would seem easy to conduct, and valuable to the Rose growing public.